Stereo tools should be used for narrowing a lot. It's not just phase issues, having way too many wide elements in the mix means that nothing sounds wide. You need the contrast between wide and narrow to get a good wide sounding mix. Another good candidate for stereo narrowing is reverbs - way too many people leave their stereo reverbs at 100% width and it just means your mix will have no front to back depth. Typical newbie mistake is thinking that drowning a sound in a stereo hall reverb will send it back in the mix. To make something sound distant you need to do two things - narrow the reverb (or better still use a mono reverb), and roll off the highs. Think about it - the further something is away from you, the narrower its sound and the high frequencies dissipate with distance. It's always great to put a few elements right at back of your mix like this, it makes the wide stereo elements sound even more upfront and really makes your mix three dimensional. A bit of an off topic rant but it all falls under the category of narrowing stereo sounds which is the key to making a great mix!
what jnyc said.... using mono for the whole mix is unprofessional and sounds like crap on a good stereo. if you want to make music then learn to use the hardware and software, and don't use crappy shortcuts. no one becomes a musician overnight, it takes years of dedication to learn all you can to be the best.
I watched this years ago and somehow learned nothing... I was struggling with mono issues recently and resorted to watching this again and - BAM - finally clicked. Thank you !
I analyzed Kygo's music and his phase is all over the place. He mostly spread pads and ambience while his core synths remained fairly centered. I think it depends on what type of music you're trying to make to determine if you should really mono-fy a song out. Kygo's music is obviously more emotional than say Oliver Helden (which is like almost always centered DEEP BASS).
I’m going to try this when I get home. I use very destined saw waves in my music and my masters usually come out wide and don’t sound too great in mono. But when I get my songs mastered by a professional engineer, they’re always able to make the masters sound good in mono, so this is probably what they do to my tracks. Thanks for the video 🙏🏽
Good video echou , Its important to take the bass frecuencies out from the side , it helps to your speakers work less and better and also highly improve the mix. the only bass frecuencies that i left in the side are from the reverbs.
FREE STEREO PLUGINS: For anyone who doesn't have a stereo enhancement plugin like the waves S1 Imager used in the video check out these FREE plugins FLUX STEREO: www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3 ALEX HILTON: www.alexhilton.net/A1AUDIO/index.php/a1stereocontrol Both are free. I have tried the Flux one and it's great, forgot to mention in video.
I think logic pro X has a plugin built in that does that called direction mixer. I would put it on a stereo output with it all the way down to see what my mix would sound like in mono.
You have answered a question I knew just switching to mono would not solve, thank you a billion. Question, can you do this on the overall track in the mixing process and get a similar result?
I mean if you want a f.e. stereo sub with a softsynth you can turn off the random phase, and then set the phase points for both the left and the right in a different spot so that your ears can differentiate between left and right and thus feel stereo whilst not having that unstableness stereo sounds often have
Hi great Tip EsW. Thanks for this. I have a question about the correlation amount. You "mono'd" the Serum part even though it was clearly in phase so my question is how much toward the negative phase correlation is "bad" for mono? When you used the meter it showed it was already nearly halfway in the positive. So how much toward neg is "too much" out of phase to be lost on a mono system? Thanks
Hi, Great video! Can I please ask when you say "Phase is better" at 4:50? I'd like to know when/how a phase is "good" or "bad" when working in Solo, I'm no pro.
Hey! So in this example, I mean that the phase correlation meter was tending closer to anti phase, which means that it isnt going to be mono compatible
see i have an issue. Im doing this thing where id make my track pretty fine, and then at the end convert to mono, or reference to mono throughout tracking, and i find myself in the opposing situation where my mono mixes sound too FLAT, wouldn't lowering the bands on a stereo imager just make sounds even flatter? i honestly don't see the point in this. or is my flat sound just a result of phase cancelation? and reducing the bands will just help my phase issues and result in a wider sound? would appreciate anybody's help
+skateg101 I do not use Live, couldn't tell ya. BUT that being said this free plugin does the same thing: www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3
Thanks ! i've been looking for something like this for ages. Any suggestion on a meter plugin that make you see the phase like the one you use but on Ableton ?
+Joan OfArt I wish i knew more about Ableton, I would think it would come with some type of basic metering. If not, check out www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3. FREE and has a phase meter on it!
+ADSR Music Production Tutorials Thanks ! this video actually convinced me to subscribe to your website and watch the whole thing. Really great material and i learned a lot of new things. Keep up the great work
so my final mix sounds perfectly fine when I bounce it out to a wav file in both mono and stereo. When I post it to youtube however, it sounds fine in stereo but if I switch it over to mono it has a terrible hissing and my leads are squashed/distorted... Does anybody know why this is only happening after its uploaded to youtube? Like I said both in my DAW and after I export the file it sounds fine in mono so I don't know how to go about fixing this
+Marky Goldstein It's growing on me, the only annoying thing is its really hard to see the selected track or tracks in the actual mixer view. The guy who does them does great work though: logicproxthemes.blogspot.com
so....you mixing stuf with knowledge that you mono up some tracks and so if they are little quieter you boost them up so that they are audible in the song.... why not mono them up more or even all the way and make song totaly mono and after you done spice it up and , if they are to loud, bring them down... I was hoping to hear some other more suitable trick for it....
ANA is notorious for terrible mono compatibility at least according to me. All of the included sounds when summed to mono sound thin and quiet all on its own. Ive been looking at other techniques such as only using one channel ( left or right) and adding my effects but so far i haven't nailed it yet in my daw (studio one). I dont understand why synth manufactures make these presets without thinking about mono compatibility even today it is very relevant.
Oh, I really think mono is horrible. More stereo music, that is NOT mono compatible. Much more exciting and sounds soo much better. Good tutorial though, if you want mono compatibility,
no one discusses it because why would you want mono? stereo is 2 channels of sound, mono is only one and sounds flat and has no depth. mono would only be good if you are that jerk who makes people listen to music on your phone while yo hold it up.if you want a mix to sound good one any devise then always record in stereo and maybe learn to use the equalizer.
It's because many clubs actually don't have stereo audio, so it's important to keep the tracks mono compatible so that they still sound good in those clubs. The reason for this is that the area might not permit a decent stereo image experience for the people listening.
What do you mean by a “mono environment”? Where are these mono environments? Why is this suddenly a thing? I’ve been making music for years and no one was ever talking about this issue 10 years ago. I think people just create problems for the sake of it.
Stereo tools should be used for narrowing a lot. It's not just phase issues, having way too many wide elements in the mix means that nothing sounds wide. You need the contrast between wide and narrow to get a good wide sounding mix. Another good candidate for stereo narrowing is reverbs - way too many people leave their stereo reverbs at 100% width and it just means your mix will have no front to back depth. Typical newbie mistake is thinking that drowning a sound in a stereo hall reverb will send it back in the mix. To make something sound distant you need to do two things - narrow the reverb (or better still use a mono reverb), and roll off the highs. Think about it - the further something is away from you, the narrower its sound and the high frequencies dissipate with distance. It's always great to put a few elements right at back of your mix like this, it makes the wide stereo elements sound even more upfront and really makes your mix three dimensional. A bit of an off topic rant but it all falls under the category of narrowing stereo sounds which is the key to making a great mix!
This was really helpfull thanks. I made this newbie mistakes.
what jnyc said.... using mono for the whole mix is unprofessional and sounds like crap on a good stereo. if you want to make music then learn to use the hardware and software, and don't use crappy shortcuts. no one becomes a musician overnight, it takes years of dedication to learn all you can to be the best.
Now this is a pro tip. Thank you
Thx for the tips!
damn, who thought i would learn so much from a youtube comment :O
I watched this years ago and somehow learned nothing... I was struggling with mono issues recently and resorted to watching this again and - BAM - finally clicked. Thank you !
This trick with the S1 has helped me out so much! Thank you
I analyzed Kygo's music and his phase is all over the place. He mostly spread pads and ambience while his core synths remained fairly centered. I think it depends on what type of music you're trying to make to determine if you should really mono-fy a song out. Kygo's music is obviously more emotional than say Oliver Helden (which is like almost always centered DEEP BASS).
This is the only video helped me after watching lot many useless mid side processing videos.. Thanks a ton
I’m going to try this when I get home. I use very destined saw waves in my music and my masters usually come out wide and don’t sound too great in mono. But when I get my songs mastered by a professional engineer, they’re always able to make the masters sound good in mono, so this is probably what they do to my tracks. Thanks for the video 🙏🏽
Good video echou , Its important to take the bass frecuencies out from the side , it helps to your speakers work less and better and also highly improve the mix. the only bass frecuencies that i left in the side are from the reverbs.
I was actually just researching mono compatibility. I'm this video appeared on my timeline 👌
+Dyonte Morgan Me too.... Big brother man, big brother...
Man I loved the video. I been trying to address phase issues. The track is nice.
+Dennis Perkins IV Thanks Dennis, glad you liked it!
FREE STEREO PLUGINS: For anyone who doesn't have a stereo enhancement plugin like the waves S1 Imager used in the video check out these FREE plugins
FLUX STEREO: www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3
ALEX HILTON: www.alexhilton.net/A1AUDIO/index.php/a1stereocontrol
Both are free. I have tried the Flux one and it's great, forgot to mention in video.
+ADSR Music Production Tutorials Great stuff Keep the Tutorials Coming!
I think logic pro X has a plugin built in that does that called direction mixer. I would put it on a stereo output with it all the way down to see what my mix would sound like in mono.
The "gain" plugin also has a mono button :D
You have answered a question I knew just switching to mono would not solve, thank you a billion. Question, can you do this on the overall track in the mixing process and get a similar result?
ozone imager 2 is very good. one of my favorites
Best video on the internet.
Real quick and simple: DO I want to add a de-esser to each vocal (and double) and harmony or place one de-esser on the final vocal bus?
I mean if you want a f.e. stereo sub with a softsynth you can turn off the random phase, and then set the phase points for both the left and the right in a different spot so that your ears can differentiate between left and right and thus feel stereo whilst not having that unstableness stereo sounds often have
Hi great Tip EsW. Thanks for this. I have a question about the correlation amount. You "mono'd" the Serum part even though it was clearly in phase so my question is how much toward the negative phase correlation is "bad" for mono? When you used the meter it showed it was already nearly halfway in the positive. So how much toward neg is "too much" out of phase to be lost on a mono system? Thanks
Useful af man thank you! I’ve been struggling with this!
love that guitar pluck! Can you show us how you made that preset in Serum??
Hi, Great video!
Can I please ask when you say "Phase is better" at 4:50? I'd like to know when/how a phase is "good" or "bad" when working in Solo, I'm no pro.
Hey! So in this example, I mean that the phase correlation meter was tending closer to anti phase, which means that it isnt going to be mono compatible
ADSR Music Production Tutorials Ah, got it! Thanks for responding.
see i have an issue. Im doing this thing where id make my track pretty fine, and then at the end convert to mono, or reference to mono throughout tracking, and i find myself in the opposing situation where my mono mixes sound too FLAT, wouldn't lowering the bands on a stereo imager just make sounds even flatter? i honestly don't see the point in this. or is my flat sound just a result of phase cancelation? and reducing the bands will just help my phase issues and result in a wider sound? would appreciate anybody's help
would abletons utility plug-in serve as a decent substitute? Even though I hate that Ableton doesn't have a great stereo imaging solution....
+skateg101 I do not use Live, couldn't tell ya. BUT that being said this free plugin does the same thing: www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3
Nice track!!!! what's the name? When are you releasing if haven't yet???
Thank you
Thanks for this
Would be awesome if you can show us how you you made the guitar lead in Serum and pads with ANA :) Thank you!
+Melo D Did he show it anywhere? It's amazing...
It's in the soundset Jack You by Echo Sound Works!
...what is this DAW?
very nice topic in this vid...thx
+Amadeus Mo'Art Logic X with a theme/skin. Thanks for watching!
nice track!
Thanks!
Ok so to make ure track mono compatible use a imaging plug in on a track and dial back the width (closer to -1) ????
I get it!! Thank you!
Nice music
Thanks ! i've been looking for something like this for ages. Any suggestion on a meter plugin that make you see the phase like the one you use but on Ableton ?
+Joan OfArt I wish i knew more about Ableton, I would think it would come with some type of basic metering. If not, check out www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3. FREE and has a phase meter on it!
+ADSR Music Production Tutorials Thanks ! this video actually convinced me to subscribe to your website and watch the whole thing. Really great material and i learned a lot of new things. Keep up the great work
In Ableton use the stock Utility plug in and decrease the width from 100% down
hey man, just wondering what bank the Serum electric guitar patch is from? Thanks
so my final mix sounds perfectly fine when I bounce it out to a wav file in both mono and stereo. When I post it to youtube however, it sounds fine in stereo but if I switch it over to mono it has a terrible hissing and my leads are squashed/distorted... Does anybody know why this is only happening after its uploaded to youtube? Like I said both in my DAW and after I export the file it sounds fine in mono so I don't know how to go about fixing this
I like that theme, I guess I'm a light guy. Where can I get this?
+Marky Goldstein It's growing on me, the only annoying thing is its really hard to see the selected track or tracks in the actual mixer view. The guy who does them does great work though: logicproxthemes.blogspot.com
so....you mixing stuf with knowledge that you mono up some tracks and so if they are little quieter you boost them up so that they are audible in the song.... why not mono them up more or even all the way and make song totaly mono and after you done spice it up and , if they are to loud, bring them down... I was hoping to hear some other more suitable trick for it....
Rad ❤thank you
What DAW is That Bro?....
Logic pro.
Isn't that the same function like the utility fx in ableton? ( Width nob )
Nice
Lol taxon did one of these on supersaws recently.
ANA is notorious for terrible mono compatibility at least according to me. All of the included sounds when summed to mono sound thin and quiet all on its own. Ive been looking at other techniques such as only using one channel ( left or right) and adding my effects but so far i haven't nailed it yet in my daw (studio one). I dont understand why synth manufactures make these presets without thinking about mono compatibility even today it is very relevant.
Hey Shane
so the entire video can be summarized into: in order to get better mono compatability, just make your stereo sounds more narrow?
Mid/Side processing
mix in mono coz the pa is
Are you Duncan Trussel? sure sound like him
this logic skin is super tilting. am i the only one? it reminds me of protools... yuck
+Lucky Patrick Yeah I don't even if know if I like it yet. Ironically my favorite LP skin is a PT theme ha.
***** big fan of your videos echo. You da man.
This guy sounds like Zedd
Those pads aren't obeying you even after the trick I see 😂
Oh, I really think mono is horrible. More stereo music, that is NOT mono compatible. Much more exciting and sounds soo much better. Good tutorial though, if you want mono compatibility,
no one discusses it because why would you want mono? stereo is 2 channels of sound, mono is only one and sounds flat and has no depth. mono would only be good if you are that jerk who makes people listen to music on your phone while yo hold it up.if you want a mix to sound good one any devise then always record in stereo and maybe learn to use the equalizer.
It's because many clubs actually don't have stereo audio, so it's important to keep the tracks mono compatible so that they still sound good in those clubs. The reason for this is that the area might not permit a decent stereo image experience for the people listening.
What do you mean by a “mono environment”? Where are these mono environments? Why is this suddenly a thing? I’ve been making music for years and no one was ever talking about this issue 10 years ago. I think people just create problems for the sake of it.
Nightclubs sounds systems are often configured in mono some are in stereo but generally mono